Bath appliance.



C. E. STALTER.

BATH APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED res. s. 1916.

1 1 82,8 1 O Patented May 9, 1916.

CHARLES E. STALTER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

BATH APPLIANCE.

Application filed February 3, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES E. Smyrna, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bath Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in folding bath devices and particularly to that specific type of such devices which has for its prime object the giving of a sponge bath to an invalid or to a person in bed. It may also be used quite successfully in surgical operations.

lVith the above and other obj ects in view, my invention consists of the parts and the construction, arrangement and combination of parts which I will hereinafter describe and claim.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, and in which similar reference characters indicate like parts in the several views; Figure 1 illustrates the adaptation of my device to a bed. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the drainage pan removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional View on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: shows a fragment of a pan of modified form.

In carrying out my invention and because of the intended uses of the device, the sheet or mat, A, upon which a person lies while being given, say, a sponge bath, is preferably composed of suitable fabric such as rubber, canvas or other material which has the characteristic of being more or less nonabsorbent to liquid matter and to which end the fabric sheet or mat should have waterproof or impervious qualities. The dimensions of the sheet or mat is unimportant; but when the sheet is used upon a bed and the patient reposes thereon, the sheet should have suflicient length and width to accommodate the prone figure and, if desired, to allow the edges to be turned up to prevent the water or liquid spilling over the edges. The precise manner of disposing of the edges of the mat is really of no vital importance; cords, a, secured at or near the corners of the sheet and at other points, if desired, will form a satisfactory means for connecting the edges of the sheet to the bed frame with the edges of the sheet turned up or not, as desired.

In connection with the aforesaid sheet or mat, I use a drainage pan, B. This pan Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented May 53, 1916.

Serial No. 75,975.

may be composed of any suitable material, preferably aluminum or some other sheet metal possessing non-rusting properties. This pan is designed to lie beneath the sheet or met, A, and to extend transversely of the bed-mattress from one edge thereto toward but short of the opposite edge, the pan servmg to support the hips of the patient and to lie fiat on the bed and to offer no projections which would injure or prove an annoyance to the person being treated. At its longitudinal central portion, the pan is depressed from above to form a gutter or channel, G, which decreases in depth from one edge of the pan toward the other edge, said channel having, also, side walls converging toward the shallower end of the channel. This arrangement makes the channel deepest at one edge portion and provides an inclined bottom or floor which will direct all water or other liquid toward the discharging side of the pan. Adjacent one edge of the pan and formed in the bottom thereof in what is the deepest portion of the channel, is an opening D, in-which is fitted a tube, E, to which may be attached a rubber or other tube, F, by which liquid draining from the sheet or mat, A, may be directed into a suitable receptacle.

An important feature of my invention is providing means associated with a pan for positively connecting thereto the edge portion of the superposed sheet or mat to thereby prevent the displacement of the edge of the sheet adjacent the discharge tube and to consequent wetting of the mattress. A simple method of reaching this result is by forming or providing the upper end of the tube, E, with a flange or head, G, of such dimensions that it will enter the deeper portion of the channel and seat in a depressed recess, Z), therein with its top about flush with the inclined bottom of the channel, C, whereby fluid will readily drain into the tube for final discharge.

The purpose of forming the channel, C, in the drainage pan, is to provide a drainage channel of gradually deepening form in the uppersurface of the flexible sheet or mat itself, and to this end the sheet is formed at a suitable distance from one edge thereof with an opening, I-I, through which more or less closely passes the tube, E. This tube is first passed through the opening, H, and thence through the hole in the bottom of the pan, and in forcing or drawing the tube in place the top flange thereof draws the portion of the sheet engaged by the flange or head down into the channel, C, and tightly clamps the sheet against the bottom of the channel. This holds the edge of the sheet against accidental displacement and produces in the sheet itself during the fitting of the tube to the pan, a drainage channel along which water or other liquid will drain to the discharge tube.

If desired, the pan may be formed with an upstanding flange, I, at the outer end of the drainage channel and this when the flanged tube, E, is used in the manner before described, will result in the edge of the sheet adjacent the inlet to the tube being automatically turned up in unison with the seating of the tube and the formation of the drainage channel in the sheet. This turned up edge will form an effective dam and overcome all possibility of liquid spilling over the edge of the sheet at the end of the drainage channel.

In either of the above instances, the drainage tube, E, is secured by some appropriate means; for instance, a nut, Ef, may be screwed upon the threaded lower end of the tube and run up against the underside of the pan to thereby draw the flanged portion of the tube into clamping engagement with the sheet and thus preserve a tight joint about the opening through said sheet, the length of the tube, E, being sufficient to enable the coupling end of the discharge tube, F, to be attached and detached at pleasure.

The device described is simple in construction and may be offered to the public at a small cost, and the parts are readily separable and are of such a nature that they may be readily and thoroughly sterilized by any of the well known methods.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. The combination with a flexible sheet, pad or mat, having an opening of a drainage-pan adapted to underlie the sheet hav ing an opening to register with the openingin the sheet and having a channel extending approximately to an edge of said pan, and a drainage tube passing through the sheet and pan near one edge thereof and having a head part which upon the insertion of the tube through the sheet and pan draws a portion of the sheet into said channel to thereby automatically form a drainage channel in the sheet leading to said tube.

2. The combination with a flexible sheet, pad or mat having an opening, of a drainage pan having an opening to register with the opening in the sheet and adapted to underlie a central portion of the sheet and having a channel in its upper surface leading, approximately, to an edge of the pan, said sheet and pan having openings near the edges thereof and adapted to register, a drainage tube adapted to enter said openings and having a flanged upper end to engage the portion of the sheet surrounding the opening therein, whereby upon the insertion of the tube through the sheet and pan a portion ofthe sheet is drawn into and made to substantially conform to the channel and to form a drainage channel in the sheet.

3. The combination with a flexible sheet having an opening, of adrainage pan having an opening toregister with the opening in the sheet and adapted to lie thereunder and having a channel declining toward an edge of the pan; a drainage tube insert-ible in said openings and having a flanged upper end adapted upon the insertion of the tube through the sheet and pan to draw aportion of the sheet into the channel of the pan and to thereby form a drainage channel in the sheet leading to said tube; a locking nut engaging the lower end of the tube and securing said tube with the flanged end thereof clamping the sheet to the pan; and a discharge tube connecting with the drainage tube.

4:. A drainage pan having a depression in its upper surface forming a channel which leads toward an edge of thepan, and a drainage tube piercing the bottom of the channel, said pan having an upstanding flange at one edge forming substantially a dam at the outer end of said channel.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES E. STALTER.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

